[coord] belated International Lolita Day and old pic!

Once again, late for International Lolita Day last Saturday lol. I was attending a photoshoot (outside and masked) this boiling-hot summer ILD, so I didn't dress up afterwards, but I did edit some old photos from Ikkicon 2017 (a winter con) to post on Insta. I had worn a Baby the Stars Shine Bright jsk with a headdress I made inspired by one from that year's release for Baby/Alice. Later I sold the dress even though it was sooo cute, I never understand why I sell my stuff lol. But as long as the new owner loves it, I guess it's fine.

Photo on the left is new to you and never posted, the photo on the right is copied from my previous post here:

https://starsbegantofall.blogspot.com/2017/01/coord-ikki-con-tea-party-with-baby.html

 

Obviously since I sold the dress I can't rewear this coord, but I think it's already fine as is especially for a coord over 5 years old. I probably would just take away that huge brown bow. Not sure why I wore it, I wasn't even wearing brown shoes or purse??? I guess there were dark brown silhouettes in the print on the dress, but I should have worn a smaller brown bow and added more brown jewelry if that was the case.

I am currently working on at least 3 elaborate cosplays even though I am having second thoughts about going to cons this year, I'll probably just wear them inside my air-conditioned relatively virus-free house.  As mentioned, I do have a few lolita-adjacent sewing projects to work on for summer and fall should I get bored of cosplay - an otome blouse, a hoop petticoat skirt, a replica JSK, some hair accessories, and at least one casual otome skirt with clearance fabric from Joann's. I also want to make a few small accessories that are not j-fashion but still cute. We'll see how my summer goes...

 

[coord] the harmacy cottagecore coord - redo again

 Yesterday was my birthday, so before I got ready to sleep, I decided to dress up in the lolita dress that most represented me, the pharmacy dress from Baby, the Stars Shine Bright. Note, I originally owned this jumperskirt in the beige colorway and last wore it in 2016 at a high tea in the botanical gardens. But I was never happy with the coords I made with this particular colorway; this shade of beige didn't look good with my skintone and trying to coord it with dark brown made it look clunky and amateurish, but trying to match it with other shades of beige made me look like a pile of bland mashed potatoes. I sold the dress, never believing I would find the perfect cut/colorway even though there are 4 variations in 4 different colors. Then I saw mintkismet listing the green Doris jsk for cheaper than I ever saw any variation on lacemarket. I decided to get it and it was a gamble that actually paid off for once lol.

[JSK: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright; socks: Alice and the Pirates; boots, parasol: Bodyline; shoes: Sosic Shop; blouse: Cheval du Bois; kerchief: Tealovecrochet; apron: MorunxMunna Stoik; necklace/ring: TxarraOtsoa; headbow: Metamorphose; other hairclips, necklaces and jewelry: offbrand]

Neither coord is perfect, but both look so much prettier and less garish than the beige coords. The light sage green color helped a lot, even though I didn't wear any other green items, I feel green bridged the brown and off-white much better than the beige or even the pink or dark brown would have. I probably shouldn't have worn the striped socks, off-white lace socks would have fitted better, but there were brown/cream stripes in the dress, why not wear these socks I never wear?

I also decided to put on a cottagecore version because I've been meaning to wear the kerchief and apron after binging videos from costume youtubers who got into cottagecore hobbit fashions all during the pandemic. The kerchief makes my face look so round lol, but I've embraced my muffin-like qualities. If I could fix this coord, I would buy one or two more sage green accent pieces. The few green lolita accessories I own are dark forest green or mint green, I don't even own any fabric or ribbons in sage green to make accessories. I don't think I'll fully commit to cottagecore because that would require being able to keep plants alive which I cannot do, but I would like to have the option, so I will see about incorporating more green (well, more green than beige anyway).

[coord/meet] Okashi-con J-fashion "Magica Marina" mixer!

I attended Okashi-con as an artist alley artist and also went to the mixer with special guest Kimura U! I didn't really have a marine-themed dress that was summery so I just borrowed Cat's Baby mermaid dress and bought Mintymix's pastel rainbow bob wig and it was perfect! No detailed shots since this was a borrowed dress, lol.

[Dress, hairbow: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright; blouse: Innocent World; shoes: off-brand; mermaid tights: Etsy; necklace: Sanrio; badge: Preciousbbz, Kimura U; hair accessories: Daiso, Forever 21]

Anyway, the mixer was really cute with a DJ, fun drinks, cute ocean-themed backdrops for snapshots and a favor bag full of goodies and postcards. I had a good time even if we didn't have a crafting section like last year.

[coord/meet] A-kon Tea Party with Baby, the Stars Shine Bright

Last year I did not make it to A-kon's tea party because it was in Fort Worth and I didn't feel like going through the effort/cost and instead just hung out with friends, but I went this year to check out the new venue at Fair Park in Dallas. It was super hot and humid and I'm sure my dress is ruined with sweat, but it was worth it. This year's tea part was in the elegant Capitol Hall, catered by a local tea restaurant, with fashion guests from Baby the Stars Shine Bright and Hard Decora, along with Haruka Kurabeyashi! I wore a new Baby dress bought from the Japanese website, but the matching accessories were not available, so I had to buy them from the American shop. I also bought new shoes for some reason even though I didn't have to lol. I'm too lazy to retake the photos in my bathroom but this is the gist of my coord, taken at the venue by a fellow lolita.

[Onepiece: Baby the Stars Shine Bright; shoes, socks, headdress, choker: Baby the Stars Shine Bright; rings, hairpins: Forever 21, H&M, offbrand]

This coord was almost head to toe Baby, because nothing else from a different brand would have matched, lol. I love this blue and white long length Rococco style dress and bought a hoop petticoat to wear under it, which was an experience. I am glad I didn't get the matching hairbow, I think this hairband from a different line worked very well without being too fussy over the curly wig. Also made a new set of blingy deco nails to wear, which I am very proud of. Hoping I can rewear this coord someday, as it cost over $1000 total lmao!!!

[coord] Ikki-con Tea Party with Baby the Stars Shine Bright

This year (last year a little bit) I headed down to Austin again to help out with the j-fashion staff for their lolita events! I came in on Friday night and helped out with the fashion show clean-up on Saturday, but most of my time was spent getting ready for the tea party on Sunday afternoon. Despite the difficult circumstances that came up last minute, I think we pulled off a fairly good event, I hope everyone, guests and staff, agreed!

The theme for the tea party was "fairy tale" and to match with the gorgeous centerpieces Cat designed for the tables, I bought an older Baby dress from takoyaki co, the Opale cut of the Sweet Jewelry Princess print, and made my own headdress to match.

JSK: Baby the Stars Shine Bright; blouse: Innocent World; neckbow: Metamorphose; tights: off brand (wearing Meta socks in this pic lol); shoes: Taobao; necklace: Forever 21; corsage, headdress: handmade; wig: Daiso 

I had wanted to buy a similar round flower headdress from the American Baby shop but they didn't have the colors I wanted, so I made my own using a large Daiso rose and smaller flowers I had lying around from Michaels, pastel ribbons from my stash, and some jeweled tulle and raschel lace from Joann's bargain bins because this Joann's will never call my number so I couldn't get the nice tulle cut. I might just go to another Joann's or shop online or something lmao. Anyway, I rather liked the look of the asymmetrical headdress even though the veil part was kinda oversized ooops. Another successful attempt at making my own accessories!

[coord] redo for a high tea

For a birthday meet / high tea at the botanical garden with some lovely lolitas, I finally completed a halfway decent coord with the pharmacy jumperskirt, the Florence dress from Baby the Stars Shine Bright. Seeing my past failed attempts, I was able to formulate a better plan to work with all the weird details of the dress. I think this was a successful result of the planning, although a few things could always be better, but you have to stop somewhere, lmao.

JSK, hairclip: Baby the Stars Shine Bright; blouse, purse: Innocent World; socks, alice band: Metamorphose; shoes, jewelry: offbrand

I didn't have any matching brown shoes, sold the last pair, otherwise this would have been a little more balanced colorwise, but I didn't care at this point, it looked pretty good overall.

Also, I found a way to work in the barrette, which I find always slides out of my hair/wig hair because of its size/heaviness. For this hairstyle, I didn't want to wear it down since it would look boring and ratty and also it would be hot on my neck while I was walking outside in the heat. I looked up some tutorials on Youtube, and settled on a combination of two from Inky Rose: https://youtu.be/6e21cBj_OoQ

You can't see the side-fishtail braid (from a Misako video) in this particular shot, but I really liked how styling it, even if it turned out messy, made the hair accessories stay put better and just gave it a polished and sophisticated look. Like I said before, most lolitas, at least the ones I've seen in real life so far, style their cosplay wigs with incredible artistry, but generally wear their lolita wigs in 1 of 3 ways: down, high/low pigtails, or buns. Granted, it's hard to justify elaborate hairstyles when you're not going in for a pro photoshoot and just wanna eat and walk around the mall, but I think working in braids and trying updos is a genius way to freshen up a tangled old wig and add new style to a previously worn coord.

Anyway, be prepared for some really awesome coords at A-kon in the beginning of June. By awesome I mean awful. I have no more meets planned until the convention, but I bought a few dresses and accessories that should come in by then, as well as a new Otome no Sewing, so I might pop in with a handmade creation or a test coord! Once all this cosplay is done...

[coord] Leopard Print and Tea

The day after my birthday was a tea party at a friend's parent's house, so it was like a birthday party, too! Everyone was dressed up beautifully and brought delicious handmade food and teas, and I took out one of the handful of leopard print dresses that I own, salon de the minette in ivory/brown leopard print.

Here are some test coordinates I did a few days before.  I was trying to coordinate it with white so I could use that fur collar, but I ended up using off-white instead since I only have plain white knee socks. I thought these turned out rather well despite the massive bling, but I prefer the final outfit with the golden leaf tiara.

Jumperskirt: Baby the Stars Shine Bright; blouse: Innocent World; cardigan: Alice and the Pirates; purse, socks, jewelry, hair accessories: off brand, Forever 21, handmade; heels, boots: Secret Shop.

(Final outfit: Metamorphose socks and blouse, Claire's and H&M jewelry and hair accessories)

Anyway, I really admire those who rewear their dresses but still manage to make a completely different looking outfit each time. That's my goal, but on the other hand, I love to buy newer and ever tackier dresses, too.

[review] Baby the Stars Shine Bright sale purchases (San Francisco store)

This is my first unboxing type of post, I don't really do them, but figured if I have a lolita blog, I should write about at least one! I ordered (for the first time) from the San Francisco USA branch of Baby the Stars Shine Bright which had a sale going on during January. I didn't have anything in mind after spending for my ouji outfit for Ikki-con at the Japanese webshop, but I did find some pleasant surprises on sale and thought why not lmao. The online purchase and EMS shipping progressed smoothly and on time with no damages, so no issues there.


I bought the Florence Medicine Chest Louisa jumperskirt in ivory with matching ivory barette, Alice and the Pirates brown/ivory stripe socks and Pirates cuffs in off white.

A photo of the package contents, complete with free Baby logo sticker (sorry for the blurry camera phone nighttime shots)

close-up of the print on the bottom of the dress. I'm not so fond of the scallop hem or striped ribbons, the one-piece and the other jumperskirt looked better in that regard, but both were just too over the top for my tastes. But I love the antique bottles of medicine and statue of Florence Nightingale here, it's not often you find a pharmacy-themed dress.

close-up of the pirates cuffs, which unfortunately had every single snap button loosely sewn and about to detach. I'll have to re-attach them if I want to wear them without them falling apart. I guess that's why they were on clearance? 

test coords of the dresses while trying to justify re-wearing this hime wig again. As with my numerous brown/tan/off-white/ivory dresses, it's difficult to find items to match perfectly in color. I tried my best with a light and dark outfit, but I feel like I'd wear neither one out, there are too many shades of brown and ivory and tan to work with, so it looks busy and blocky. (Also that wig.) I'd say the one on the left looks best, maybe an ivory jacket and shoes would pull it together better?

Well, let's take a look at the sample coord from the brand, see how they did it!

Yeah... even using pink and off-white, that's not much better. I wish the chest and skirt bows were detachable, then we wouldn't have to worry about the dark brown stripes and just concentrate on the lighter shades, but there's all that dark wood on the bottom of the dress, too?

Anyway, I'd say this was an all right purchase. Except for the cuffs which need to be fixed, everything was of a decent quality and reasonable sale price for new, in season items. However, I think I may want to find the rest of the Florence accessories (tights, possibly necklace and bracelet or crazy nurse hat) to make this coord even somewhat cohesive. Buuut... that's probably impossible, I'll just have to make do like I always do.

[meetup] Baby the Stars Shine Bright Tea Party at Ikki-con's 10th Anniversary!

I was able to attend Ikki-con in Austin, Texas for the New Year's event and had purchased a ticket to the tea party with special guest, the CEO and designers of Baby, the Stars Shine Bright. It was an amazing experience and such an honor to meet these important influences in lolita fashion and mingle with lovely fans of lolita fashion as well. I had fun at the lolita games panel hosted by the Austin lolitas, learned some things at the Japanese Fashion panel, was very impressed by the models for the Baby fashion show, and even helped make food for the tea party. It was a busy weekend for me, since I almost never attend all 3 days of a con, but I enjoyed what the Austin lolitas had planned for us very much. The theme of the party was inspired by the Japanese legend of the bunny of the moon, in light of the new year and also Baby's bunny mascot, Usakumya!

The menu was planned by my good friends, actual chefs and patissier, so everything was made with love. The tea was served by butlers from the con's maid cafe. Look at those adorable sugar cookies!

Here are photos of my coord, a cute steampunk aviator rabbit ouji sort of ensemble, with different booties at the actual party. Yeah, I'm wearing my sports anime wig, lol. Aviator cap, shirt, jacket, wrist cuffs and pants are all Alice and the Pirates. Vest and tights are Hot Topic, bowtie from Meta and booties from Innocent World.

Me with the designers and CEO of Baby the Stars Shine Bright in the ballroom. They were absolutely adorable and tried to answer questions, despite their tiredness, what troopers!